Mercure Apartments Sao Paulo Nacoes Unidas

Only stay here if you have to

I picked this hotel because, being a Mercure, I expected the usual global levels of facilities that the Mercure brand at Accor offers. Sadly this hotel falls short, and it is not suitable for a foreign visitor unless you know you have to stay here to visit one of the nearby corporate offices.

Room: The room is larger than average, a kitchenette with two electric rings and a microwave. But the hotel offers no food service and there's no grocery store nearby apart from a huge Carrefour megastore several blocks away. The room is basic and a little tired but comfortable enough. The windows are inadequate and do not block out street noise, and the air conditioner needs maintenance as it can't cope with the heat and is also very noisy. There's a refrigerator with mini-bar goods. There's no drinking water apart from expensive one-gulp cartons.

Hotel: The hotel has no lobby, just a check-in desk. There is a breakfast room which serves a relatively expensive buffet that's not included in the standard room rate. It doubles as a restaurant and bar when they can be bothered to open it, but that doesn't include holidays or (if I read things right) weekends, so you will be stuck in your room. There's a pool on the roof that's too small for swimming but pleasant to relax in, and also a sauna and exercise room (which I didn't try).

Area: The hotel is in a bland, commercial suburb that is empty at night, weekends and holidays and there's nothing interesting nearby. The hotel does have a shuttle bus for local journeys, but they don't run it after 8pm or at weekends or holidays so you will have to take taxis. I never successfully used it, there was always some reason it wasn't available.

Service: Only one member of staff speaks a little english, so you'd better speak Portuguese. Every request I made was hard, most were impossible and no-one showed any enthusiasm or interest in helping me - very unusual for Brazil. It was a delight to finally take a taxi to Shopping Morumbi for a break on the midweek holiday I was unfortunate enough to be trapped here.

Unique Quality: Sorry, there are none. This is a tired, bland hotel that isn't worth visiting. If you want cheap, buy cheap. If you want hospitality, buy hospitality. You'll get neither here unless you are a local family visiting relatives or on a short business trip to somewhere nearby.